Neil & Angela Wilkinson

Like most people, my wife Angela and I have both had our challenges. My father died very young when I was just 13 years old, which gave me a certain perspective on life. Angela suffered from severe low self-esteem and self-image, lacking confidence. We both left school to work at Sellafield, Nuclear reprocessing plant in Cumbria; Angela in the Press Office and me as an Instrument Technician. It was here one day, stood at the top of a 12 story building looking at the workers below that my mentor at the time nudged me and said, “That’s you that is – A LIFER!” That comment hit me hard, as I could not accept that I would spend the rest of my working life working in one place.

I left to go to university at Newcastle though found it hard work. I met Angela, as I was about to start my final year. Halfway through this year I felt as if I was drowning. I didn’t understand most of my lectures and was falling behind with other work that counted for a significant part of my final grade. A course leader told me I could ask as many questions as I wanted but ultimately the work had to be done by me. The only thing in my way was ME. I didn’t know where to start – I just did. Gradually things just seemed to click into place and I achieved an Upper Second Honours Degree. I didn’t know it then, but achieving this through what felt like the worst time of my life changed my life forever. I realised I could achieve anything I wanted if I set the goal and worked for it with a NO MATTER WHAT attitude.

Angela remained at Sellafield during this time and I then spent some time as a Methods-Time-Measurement Engineer making hard working people work 20% harder for less bonus money. I disliked the role. I could not justify the repetitive strain injuries these people suffered to earn a living.

I moved into telecommunications and pursued a corporate career with Cable & Wireless for the next eight years that would build upon my Degree. This meant we had to relocate over 300 miles from home. I worked hard as a Product Development/Project Manager and studied two nights a week for almost three years for a Chartered Institute of Marketing Diploma. I believed that this role would give my family and me everything we wanted in life and worked extremely hard chasing this dream. Angela had quit her job to relocate and as Press Officer for Barbie and then Panasonic, she perused her career in a highly stressed environment.

Gradually, the politics, bureaucracy and pressure our jobs placed on us began to take its toll on our attitudes, our health and our relationship. We began to look more pro-actively for other opportunities that would allow us to be our own boss, and take control of our lives and ultimately move back to West Cumbria.

Then we came across Herbalife and travelled over two hours to an information day. Although cautious and a little sceptical, we loved the potential in the opportunity for those willing to work and ‘tested’ the products to lose the excess weight we were carrying. The change in our health was dramatic. Angela lost 10lb’s and 10 inches, but incredibly, increased her waking time by two hours per day. That’s 14 hours extra every week! I lost 27lb’s in just 14 weeks, my energy increased and my skin improved. I also noticed I no longer suffered the symptoms of a bad dust mite allergy or hay fever. We felt fantastic and wanted the share this with everyone!

Doing Herbalife just in our spare time we now have a home based business that pays our mortgage every month and has allowed us to fulfil a dream of moving back to our roots in the Lake District to have our first child. We’ve made some fantastic new friends. Angela works Herbalife around being a mother and as the I.T. Industry collapsed and job security became increasingly rare I actually ‘volunteered’ for redundancy from Cable & Wireless. We now live in our dream house that Herbalife has made possible and look forward to the incredible future we can provide our children because of this opportunity.